GRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
The screech tore through the clearing as if ripping reality itself. It was so high-pitched that everyone present gnashed their teeth and covered their ears in desperation.
Then—
FLASH
A whistle cut through the air.
Some barely noticed it; for others, it was imperceptible. Something akin to a translucent blade sliced through the creature's neck and continued its path, reaming through the trees in its way as if they were made of paper.
[[[[[KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!]]]]]
Screams didn't wait to break out as the powerful residual gust of wind pressed against the students with such force that some fell to the ground. At the same time, the Debarling was split in half, falling dead in a bath of purple blood.
CRACK! CRACK!
With a thunderous roar, the severed trees also began to fall.
[WATCH OUT!] – Carlos shouted. The students quickly recovered enough to raise their guard again; some of them even narrowly avoided the trees falling in their direction.
["#"#%#%$&$%&]
[#%$¡"#&$%&]
[%&¡"#"#$&$%%#]
Amidst the chaos, hurried but unintelligible voices resonated.
Immediately, everyone turned their attention and, for an instant, both groups stood paralyzed.
Astonishment, bewilderment, doubt, caution.
Every possible emotion flashed through the minds of both sides.
Appearances, clothing, builds. They immediately recognized the marked differences, yet at the same time, they weren't enough to deny their similarities.
Time seemed to stop for a few seconds that, under normal circumstances, might have had no meaning.
But unfortunately, they were not in a normal circumstance.
FLASH!
With a sharp shriek, another Debarling shot out from the bushes. Its mouth, open in the shape of a flower, displayed a row of teeth that threatened to give something much more lethal than a "good afternoon kiss."
[WATCH OUT!] – Since the creature was in the elves' blind spot, Franco was the first to react. With an instinctive impulse, he threw his aluminum bat with all his might.
["#&"#&/%#]
[(%##%/54$&]]
The elves immediately shot hostile glares as they stepped aside, believing they were being attacked by the humans.
But they quickly realized the attack wasn't aimed at them.
"GRAAA!" - the creature shrieked upon receiving Franco's blow, while the elves positioned themselves closer to their dying comrade and the kids.
[&%$%#%$&]
One of them, the only female elf in the group, shouted something to her companions. The elven warriors nodded and formed a line, intercepting the beast and protecting not only their companions but also the group of students.
[&%$%#%$&]
Then, the female elf tried to communicate with Franco, but he could only gesture that he didn't understand.
[Shit, there's more.] – Roinel cursed, stepping forward alongside the elves as four more Debarlings emerged from the bushes.
By that point, the small details didn't matter; when life is on the line, everything else takes a backseat.
[KYAA!] - A girl's scream caught the group's attention.
[Shit, they're behind us!]
[They're everywhere!]
The bushes and thick tree branches around them began to move as if something was passing through them at high speed.
[They're surrounding us,] – Milia warned, moving closer to Franco.
The situation grew more chaotic as the group tried to huddle together, throwing stones or swinging at the air at random to deter the monsters.
At the same time, Roinel, Carlos, and several others tried to keep the other Debarlings at bay in the clearing alongside the elves.
However, it became painfully obvious to everyone that the creatures were trying to corner them, not attack outright.
[#%$#$&"#] – While they wondered what to do, the female elf—who had been clutching the dying elf's wound while a faint, pale green glow seemed to emanate from her hand—suddenly began gesturing to Franco and the others.
[The clearing, I think she wants us to go to the clearing,] – Milia concluded, gesturing back to the elf to confirm.
Carlos understood quickly.
[They can hide in the thicket and they're harder to hit. Let's go to the center of the clearing; that way we can at least anticipate their movements.]
Everyone quickly nodded and began to move.
Franco and Milia helped the elf lift the wounded man while Simon and others covered them.
But as soon as the Debarlings noticed their intentions, they began to move with more haste to block their path.
[You sons of bitches!] - Roinel roared, attacking with his bat, and soon the fight broke out.
Roinel's bat swung down on an incoming Debarling with a wide arc; its acceleration was significant enough to make the air whistle.
But the creature defied physics. It moved with nightmare speed, its long legs snapping against the ground to change direction at impossible angles.
CRACK! - the bat resonated against the forest floor.
[Shit] – Roinel cursed as the creature that had dodged his attack was already charging at him, its blooming jaws wide open.
But in the next moment, a golf club slammed into it, knocking it back.
[They specialize in agility, don't attack recklessly!] – Carlos said, positioning himself next to the stunned Roinel – [Come on, we have to move!] – he insisted, snapping him out of his stupor.
At the same time, the elves took advantage of the openings provided by the students to deal fatal blows with their weapons.
[$#&%%/($#]
["$&$%]
They began to speak through gestures after eliminating the four Debarlings that were trying to impede their progress.
[Don't get distracted, we must move to the center of the clearing,] – Milia insisted, trying to interpret the elves' signs.
No one doubted her. They kept advancing toward the clearing while the Debarlings continued to alternate between attacking and retreating, utilizing their ridiculous agility.
But the further they moved away from the thick of the forest, far from feeling relief, the group began to tense up due to the increasing number of visible creatures.
One after another, they sprouted from the undergrowth like tumors of bone and chitin. Five, six, eight... and the forest kept spitting them out.
After a continuous tug-of-war, they finally reached the very center of the clearing.
[Form a defensive circle around the wounded. Girls in the center, boys on the edges,] – Franco said as he helped lay the elf on the ground.
The students immediately followed the order, and even the elves, without further explanation, imitated the boys' actions in tacit understanding.
[Now what?] – a student asked, voice tense.
[Now it gets worse,] – another replied.
And as if it were the signal, the group, surrounded by more than twenty Debarlings, began a battle of attrition they weren't sure they could win.
The elves moved like water. Their swords were flashes of silver that deflected claws and severed legs. In their fluid and wide movements, it was soon clear they were trying to cover the shortcomings of the inexperienced group.
Even without communication, even without knowing each other beforehand, the elves knew these kids were far from being warriors and used their experience to cover mistakes, maximizing the survival chances of the entire group.
Every time a student blocked, distracted, or pushed away a Debarling, the elves seized the opening without hesitation.
A shot from their shortbows, a thrown dagger, even blades of air formed after a rapid movement.
Soon, the situation looked like something out of a fantasy movie, with the elves dancing across the battlefield around the students who could barely fulfill their self-imposed role as bait.
[Get down!] — Franco shouted, blocking a bite with his reinforced bat. The impact rattled his bones, but he held on. Beside him, Roinel lunged with his shoulder like a football player, tackling a Debarling that was trying to flank the elves.
[Don't leave gaps!] — Carlos shouted, poking the eyes of another with a golf club.
In the center of the circle, the female elf sang a fast, distressed melody. But the green light in her hands flickered weakly, and the wounded elf coughed up bluish blood.
Milia saw the elf turn pale; she understood that whatever she was doing wasn't easy. But there was nothing she could do to help.
In the midst of all this, a small Debarling slipped through the legs of the formation.
[WATCH OUT!]
[NO!]
[[KYAA!!]]
The screams soon came along with the desperate movements of the students trying to stop the creature, but it was all in vain.
In a precise and intentional movement, the Debarling lunged toward the female elf's throat.
[NO!] – Milia screamed, swinging her broomstick at the creature that had pounced on them.
Because of the incoming attack, the Debarling was forced to dodge, missing its mark by inches.
But that time and angle were enough: the female elf's companion, even in his dying state, moved his hand with fluidity, and a dagger embedded itself in the creature's forehead, killing it instantly.
[Sound! The diary mentioned the possibility that sound could upset them, like insects!] — Carlos shouted, remembering the information about the Debarling he had seen in the diary, though he couldn't confirm they were the same creature. He could only hope.
He quickly grabbed the improvised shield made from a trash can lid off his back and began striking it with the metal part of his golf club.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
Fortunately, the idea proved effective. Carlos's noise seemed to make the nearest Debarlings shudder, while those further away showed obvious irritation.
[MAKE SOME NOISE!] – Simon roared, and the students began hitting metal against metal or simply screaming.
[My screaming doesn't work?]
[It's the metal! It's the metallic noises that hurt them!]
Slowly, they began to detail the Debarlings' behavior and adjusted their movements to the most effective actions, bunching up with those who had iron or aluminum tools.
The elves were surprised at first, but soon welcomed this new and fortuitous reality.
Without hesitation, they lunged at the erratic Debarlings, claiming one life after another.
Soon, the creatures were nearly decimated.
[We're going to make it,] – one student said, relieved.
[Idiot, what's with that death flag?] – another complained.
And as if life were a shitty comedian…
["#%#$&] - the female elf suddenly screamed. No one understood her, but regardless of the language, the urgency implied in her tone was enough for everyone to snap to attention and look in the direction their instincts suggested.
From the nearby bushes, a new shadow emerged.
Its speed was dizzying, launching itself in a single leap toward the group.
Everything happened in fractions of a second.
It was a Debarling, but at the same time, it wasn't. It was too different from what was established in the diary and what they had seen so far. Not in appearance, but in size.
While the Debarlings they had faced seemed like medium or large dogs, this one was a bear.
An elongated bear, with a bifurcated mouth, legs longer than a fishing rod and as thick as a baseball bat.
That strange creature—which couldn't be called massive, but was by no means irrelevant either—was falling upon them like a comet.
Some closed their eyes, others tensed up; the elves tried to react, but it was too late even for them.
And yet, when all seemed lost…
FLASH!
It was… unreal.
From what could only be called nothingness itself, enormous black maws descended upon the Debarling, as if it were a dog that had been waiting too long for its owner to toss a snack.
CRACK!
The earth trembled as the Debarling was dragged across the ground, trapped in the maws of the gigantic snake whose jet-black body, thick as a pillar, seemed to emerge slowly from the void.
[[[[[KYAAAAAAA!!!!!]]]]]
Screams didn't wait to break out, debris scattered, and the layer of dust grew thicker as the snake writhed, dragging its prey against the hard ground.
Finally, the battered body of the Debarling was sent flying into the air from the cloud of dust.
But as soon as it began to fall, the enormous snake also emerged from the dust with its maws open and swallowed it in a single gulp, before sinking back into the dust with a fluid movement.
Everyone watched the scene with their mouths agape; the bladders of some had already given way, and the knees of many more had already surrendered.
No one dared to make a sound as the snake's massive body seemed to zigzag around the valley, as if the place were too small for it.
And then, from the dust that was beginning to disperse, two pairs of purple eyes fixed directly on the group.
[[[[….]]]]]
For an instant that felt eternal, the forest went silent. Before those eyes, breathing felt like challenging death itself.
They rose with a hypnotic rhythm—neither fast nor slow—a fluid movement laden with the absolute haughtiness of one who demands total submission from the world.
Finally, with the dust cleared, the imposing figure of Mya—whose body you could see the beginning of, but never the end—presented herself before everyone.
Sssss
She hissed with eerie calm, eyes fixed on those who could have been her prey if not for her master's wish.
But she soon lost interest. With fluid movements, she took some of the dying Debarlings in her maws and disappeared into the forest, leaving the paralyzed group behind.
Only then was oxygen allowed to return, and cold sweat soaked every part of everyone's bodies.
They, even without anyone telling them, knew it. They knew they survived for the simple fact that they weren't worth the effort of killing… nothing more… nothing less…